艱
Character learning workspace

jiān · difficult, hard

Master the form, understand its parts, and learn how it behaves in real Chinese.

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Learn every stroke in 艱

Replay the complete order, pause on difficult movements, inspect one stroke at a time, then write it yourself with live correction.

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Stroke graphics: Make Me a Hanzi / Arphic Public License
Step-by-step explorer

See how 艱 is constructed

Switch between the accumulated form and the isolated movement of each stroke.

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Writing notes

Shape and proportion

17Total strokes

Count each continuous pen movement once, including turns and hooks.

Left-rightCharacter structure

Keep the left side compact and leave enough room for the right side.

艮Key radical

Use the highlighted radical in the animation as a visual anchor for remembering the form.

Print and practise

Download a 艱 writing sheet

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Includes the stroke sequence, progressive tracing, and blank writing squares. Generated locally in your browser.

Vocabulary in context

Common words with 艱

Open a word for its full breakdown, or listen before reading the meaning.

No common curriculum words are indexed for this character yet.

Read and listen

Example sentences

Notice where 艱 sits in each complete thought.

Tā mén bú pà jiān kǔ de gōng zuò.他們不怕艱苦的工作。

They're not afraid of hard work.

Source: Tatoeba #868477 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Zhè shì yí xiàng jiān kǔ de gōng zuò.這是一項艱苦的工作。

This is painstaking work.

Source: Tatoeba #13118945 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Tú ā léi gé rén xí guàn le jiān kǔ de shēng huó.圖阿雷格人習慣了艱苦的生活。

Tuaregs are used to hard life.

Source: Tatoeba #13951099 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Shī yè zhī hòu tā ái guò le yí duàn fēi cháng jiān kǔ de rìzi.失業之後他捱過了一段非常艱苦的日子。

After losing his job, he went through a very difficult time.

Source: Tatoeba #339915 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Turn reference into recall

How to study 艱 in context

  1. Say jiān, then recall the core meaning: difficult, hard.
  2. Write all 17 strokes while keeping the left-right balanced.
  3. Read the complete sentence aloud once, then cover the translation and explain how 艱 works in that context.

Definitions and traditional forms are compiled from Make Me a Hanzi, HSK curriculum data, and CC-CEDICT. Sourced example sentences link to Tatoeba; editorial examples are labeled separately. Review data sources and licenses.